Spain and Portugal played to a breathless 3-3 tie on the second day of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, with a dizzying 997 passes completed, with a hat trick from Cristiano Ronaldo, with a candidate for goal of the tournament on Nacho’s searing volley through traffic to put Spain ahead, with Ronaldo providing the equalizer on an improbably swerving free kick in the dying moment.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the presence of European teams in the World Cup semifinals should be a sign to other regions that they need to improve. Uruguay and Brazil were the only two non-European nations to advance to the quarterfinals, with the last remaining CONCACAF team, Mexico, knocked out by Brazil in the round of 16.

The folks at FIFA haven’t done much for us over the years, but we can thank them for the customary breather between group play and the knockout rounds of the World Cup every four years. This time, though, we might need more than a day to recover.

The curse of the champions reared its head again on Day 14 at the World Cup when title-holder Germany crashed out of the tournament. Germany's 2-0 loss to South Korea in Kazan and Sweden's 3-0 win over Mexico in Yekaterinburg in the early set of games meant the 2014 champions leave with one win and two losses. Mexico backed its way into the round of 16 alongside group winner Sweden.

A draw was enough to for France and Denmark both to progress to the Round of 16 and neither team really got out of first gear in a tedious top of the table clash, which was Russia 2018's first 0-0 stalemate.